it's not easy to tell you goodbye
by prettypinklips
Summary: "Are you sure? Because if you don't dance with me to this tasteless and drab Top 40 song, I'm going to have to compel the bartender into taking the night off to keep me company," he drawls. -— Kol/Bonnie, Klaus/Caroline aside. Complete


**it's not easy to tell you goodbye**

**.**

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"Read my lips, buddy." Bonnie snaps, eyes narrowing into slits, her index finger poking into Kol's (remarkably toned and muscular) chest, "_Not. Interested._"

Kol pouts, stepping back and rolling his eyes, "Are you sure? Because if you don't dance with me to this tasteless and drab Top 40 song, I'm going to have to compel the bartender into taking the night off to keep me company," he drawls, eyes flicking to the pretty blonde that had graduated from Mystic Falls High three years before, and Bonnie's old babysitter. Sarah, the bartender, blushes under Kol's gaze and bites her lip. Bonnie knows what will happen if Sarah keeps Kol 'company'.

Kol winks at Sarah before turning back to Bonnie, "What'll it be, Bon Bon?" he asks, face looming close to hers.

Bonnie's lips twist in disgust, and she snarls, "_Fine,_" for the simple reason that too many people have died because Kol was bored. "I'll dance with you, but call me Bon Bon one more time and I'll smash your pretty face into pieces."

Kol looks mildly impressed, and smirks, "So you admit I'm pretty," he says gleefully, taking her arm before she has time to shriek in outrage. He drags her towards the stage where her schoolmates are milling about, dancing and laughing and having a good time. She wishes she was as carefree as them, but no, her mom's at home drowning in blood bags while Caroline helps her (she couldn't stick around to watch, she just couldn't), and now she's being forced to dance to Ke$ha by an Original version of Damon. Oh, and he'd also just killed her mother. (Well, Damon and Stefan had, but Kol was who she was placing the blame on.)

She kind of wants to set herself on fire.

A couple of girls she knows from school eye Kol and his arm on her waist. One girl gives her a thumbs up and she shivers in disgust. Kol smirks at the look on her face and taps her nose, saying, "Relax, darling. It could be worse."

"How?" Bonnie snaps, hands wrapping around the base of his neck.

"I _could_ be massacring your jealous friends over there," Kol sends a glowing smile to the girls that had been given her a thumbs up a few minutes before. He pulls her closer, whispering, "Enjoy yourself before I throw a fit," into her ear. She angles herself closer, and tries not to let the scent of his cologne cloud her head.

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Hours pass.

And finally, after midnight, Kol's hands drop from her body. He runs a hand through his hair before smoothing his other hand through her locks, "Such a pretty little thing," he murmurs in appreciation.

"Can I go now?" Bonnie asks tiredly.

"Yes," he says, and she moves to leave. He catches her arm just as she exits the floor, and adds, "but you're going to meet me here tomorrow, and we're going to have dinner together. Oh, and you're going to enjoy yourself." Kol doesn't say it like he's compelling her, but more like he's requesting her. And she knows she'll end up coming because it's Kol and he's flighty and gets bored easily and she's trying to keep the body count down this week.

"Highly unlikely," she snorts in answer, "but I'll be here as long as you behave yourself."

Kol smiles, eyes lighting up, "No promises," he quips back, dropping her arm and giving her a bow goodbye.

He disappears before she has time to yell at him.

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Bonnie sits outside of her room, back against the door, knees pulled up to her chest. Caroline's is murmuring soothing words to Abby, and she can imagine the blonde stroking her grey streaked hair and quieting her fears. She wishes she could watch the transition, but she can't. She'd only just gotten her mom back, and now she was losing her again. It was Caroline all over again.

Bonnie considers calling Elena and apologizing, but thinks better of it. She's standing her ground this time. She doesn't hate Elena, just hates the choices she's made. She hates to say it, but...everything bad that had happened in Mystic Falls was because of Elena. Because of Elena and her boyfriends. She knows the stupid vampire brother's are at fault, too, but she can't help but blame Elena.

The door behind her opens, and she scoots sideways. Caroline sits down beside her, and says, "She's hungry."

Bonnie's stomach knots together, "Oh." she murmurs.

"I don't think you want to be here for this, Bon," Caroline tells her, "it might get messy."

"I'll just—I'll just go for a walk or something." Bonnie says, standing shakily, "Call me when it's over." she touches Caroline's arm, "And thanks, for doing this."

Caroline smiles sadly, and disappears into Bonnie's room.

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Bonnie shoves her hands into the pockets of the pink hoodie she'd borrowed from Caroline, ducking her head against the wind. She's been walking for a good half hour, and there was still no word from Caroline. She was starting to worry. What if—

"Bonnie," a voice comes from in front of her, and she slams into a tall body, "fancy meeting you here." Kol smirks down at her. He's holding her elbow, having caught her before she could fall.

Bonnie jerks her arm away, glaring up at him. Her hair flies all around her, and her hands curl into fists. She's still angry that he'd made her dance with him, still angry that he'd killed her mom, still angry that he was alive. "Go away, Kol." she spits, walking around him and continuing down the street.

"This is a free country, sweet. I can go where I please." Kol quips back, following her. He strolls down the street after her, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Just stay away from me." Bonnie sighs, the fire dying inside of her. She's just tired. She's not in the mood to deal with him. Or anything. She just wants to go home and crawl into bed and sleep for a few days.

Kol's face slips into a pout, "But I thought we were having a lovely time earlier. You seemed to really enjoy your—"

"Shut up!" Bonnie snaps, whipping around the face him, "I hate _you!_ I hate your _family!_ I wish you would all just die! You're the reason my mom's dead and you expect me to be friends with you? _What's wrong with you?_" she cries, throwing her hands up.

Kol's expression remains neutral, but he says, quietly, "I'm sorry about that." and he does seem truly regretful, but she's not about to believe that an Original would feel bad about getting someone killed. Especially after all of the innocent people he's offed.

Bonnie shakes her head, "You're a liar. You're not sorry about anything."

Kol purses his lips, "Look, I—"

"Don't try to explain yourself." Bonnie sighs, pulling her vibrating phone out of her pocket, "Just leave me alone." she hits the 'answer' button, and walks away from him, leaving him floundering for words like a fish, "I'm on my way, Caroline."

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"So, you kept your promise." Kol says in approval, swirling a glass of red wine and inhaling. "You look exquisite."

Bonnie looks down at her jeans and brown leather jacket ensemble, and snorts, "Flattery will get you nowhere. Especially with me." Kol only smirks in answer, and motions for her to sit in the booth across from him. He pours her a glass of wine, pushing it towards her.

"Tell me," Kol begins, "how is your mother?"

"Dead." Bonnie says, flatly.

Kol's eyes squint, and he takes a vial out of his pocket, pouring the red liquid—blood—into his wine glass. Bonnie's nose wrinkles. Kol sighs, "I really hope we can get past that, Bonnie." he takes a sip of his blood wine, scrutinizing her all the while.

"Doubt it," Bonnie mutters, opening the menu Matt puts on the table in front of her. He gives her a look, and she shakes her head in a 'don't ask' gesture. He walks away after setting a menu down in front of Kol.

Kol rubs his hands together in excitement, ogling the menu. Bonnie can't help it; she smiles. He's just like a child, flipping through the kids menu. But then she remembers who he is and what he's done to her mother, and her smile vanishes.

Dinner passes awkwardly, for her at least. Kol seems to be enjoying himself, chattering away about life before he'd been staked. Bonnie tries her best to remain angry with him, but it's getting increasingly difficult. He's just a little boy, barely older than her, in a new world. He asks her all sorts of questions; "what are Disney movies?" "who is President Obama?" "what's a Harry Potter?"

It's sort of endearing, Bonnie thinks, as she explains everything to him.

(But she still doesn't like him. At all.)

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"Thank you for keeping me company tonight, Miss Bennett." Kol says, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

Bonnie sucks down her revulsion, and offers him a timid smile, "Anything to keep your from murdering the unsuspecting townspeople."

Kol's lips flicker into a wane smile, and he winks before turning away and strolling off down the sidewalk, whistling.

Bonnie's left standing there, and she thinks she's just been suckered into a date with an Original.

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(He wasn't planning on killing anyone, he thinks gleefully, walking away from her. A smirk flits across his lips.)

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"We're not doing this anymore," Bonnie tells him after the third dinner in a row.

Kol looks up from his macaroni and cheese, "Doing what?" he asks, mouth full of noodles.

Bonnie wrinkles her nose at his apparent lack of manners, and waves her hand at him, his dinner, and the Grille, "_This!_ We're not—we're not hanging out anymore."

Kol tilts his head to the side, and the movement is so inexplicably adorable that Bonnie has to avert her eyes, looking over his left shoulder. "Why?" he questions, like a child. A man capable of killing every human within twenty five feet of him in three seconds should never sound like a toddler or have a cute head tilt, she decides. It's not fair.

"Because I hate you!" Bonnie sputters.

Kol grins, "No, you don't." he tells her knowingly.

"_I do._" Bonnie hisses vehemently. "You killed my mom."

Kol frowns, "No...I, in a way, gave her to you forever. You'll never lose her." he doesn't seem to understand, and then she gets it. None of the Originals see vampirism as death. They see it as...a way to avoid the ultimate ending. They probably don't even remember most of their human days, so why would they think of vampirism as anything other than life? Kol, in his own mind, had justified his actions towards her mother as a favor to her. He also doesn't mention the fact that it was all Damon and Stefan and Elena's fault. She kind of admires that.

"Kol," Bonnie sighs, rubbing her temples. She wishes she could just zap him away. "I'm not going to live forever like you. My mom's going to lose _me,_ now."

Kol's frown deepens, almost as if he doesn't understand, "You're not going to—you're not going to transition?" he asks as if the very idea of her not becoming a vampire is blasphemy.

"No." Bonnie says firmly. "Never."

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("Very well then," Kol amends, "you're no longer required to keep me company." she sees the hurt so clearly on his face that she forgets he's an Original monster for a moment, and all she can see is a little boy with no friends and a family full of assholes who just wants someone to hang out with, and she almost takes it back. Almost. Kol quickly recovers, and plasters a smirk onto his face, "You were beginning to bore me anyway."

As she's leaving, their eyes meet, and his cheeks dimple up as he smiles at her. She can't help but smile back. This is the last time she'll see him, so why not? "Bye, Kol." she tells him, waving as she walks away.)

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Her stomach drops when she sees that he's not waving back. No, he's standing and making his way to a blonde at the bar. He makes his dimples at the girl, and she giggles. Bonnie's hand clench into fists, and she shoves the Grille's double doors open, stomping away.

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(She tries not to let the thought of him dancing and eating dinner with anyone else bother her.)

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"You _broke_ him," Rebekah stomps her feet, arms crossed across her chest. Bonnie blinks tiredly, and prepares to slam her front door in the Original's face when Rebekah catches the handle. "Fix him."

Bonnie hasn't had any coffee that morning, it's a Sunday, and she has a pile of math homework to do, so she's really not in the mood, "If you don't tell me who 'he' is, I'm going to singe your hair off," she threatens, trying to force the door closed.

Rebekah holds steady, "Kol. You did something to him." she narrows her eyes, "What is with you Mystic Falls girls? Elijah is taken with Elena," she makes a disgusted face, "Klaus with that blonde tramp, and Kol with you. It's positively vile." she sniffs, nose wrinkling.

Bonnie stops trying to close the door, and opens it all the way, "What's wrong with Kol?" she asks, feigning a sort of cool disinterest. She tells herself she's worried because he might start killing people if he's bored or unhappy, but she knows she's lying to herself.

Ugh.

"He won't talk! He won't eat! He doesn't even direct prostitute jokes at me anymore!" Rebekah throws her hands up, "Just—just quit being mad about your mommy and go out to dinner with him or something!" Bonnie shakes her head, but Rebekah cuts her off, "Look, Witch Bit—I mean, _Bonnie,_ Kol isn't as bad as Klaus...if Blond—_Caroline_ can be friends with Klaus," Bonnie knows she's using the term 'friends' loosely. She's seen the hickey's on Caroline's neck, "then why can't you be friends with Kol?"

Bonnie blinks in disbelief, is death really that unimportant to them? "He killed my mom." she snaps, even though she knows Kol wasn't the executioner.

Rebekah deflates as she reverts back to her old excuses, "You're being difficult." she whines.

Bonnie slams the door in her face.

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"Bonnie," Klaus greets her pleasantly, swinging the door open wide. He's shirtless, hands stained with charcoal. "what brings you to our humble abode?"

Bonnie snorts. There's nothing humble about their giant mansion. "Is Kol here?" she asks.

Klaus shakes his head, "I'm afraid not. He said he had a date...with some blonde. Sally? Susie?" he snaps his fingers.

"Sarah?" Bonnie offers.

"The very one." Klaus says, nodding enthusiastically. "Now, if you'll excuse me...I have some things to attend to."

"Klaus?" another voice joins them. Caroline peaks out from behind Klaus, eyes finding Bonnie's. She lights up, shoving Klaus to the side and scooping the shorter girl into a hug. "Bonnie! It's been _forever._"

Bonnie surveys Caroline's messy hair, and the charcoal fingerprints dotting her face and neck. "Hey, Care. Been busy?" she asks.

Caroline flushes, and Klaus ducks out of the doorway, "Yeah, I guess." Caroline examines her, "...Are you okay, Bon? Do you want to talk?"

Bonnie sighs, "I just—I—yeah, yeah, I want to talk." she finally decides, and Caroline grabs her hand.

"We're going for a walk! Don't wait up!" Caroline yells over her shoulder as she drags Bonnie down the Originals driveway.

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They get ice cream and sit on a bench in the town square. "So, what's up?" Caroline asks, positions herself so she's facing Bonnie.

"How do you do it?" Bonnie questions.

Caroline frowns, forehead wrinkling, "Do what?"

"How do you forget everything they've done? How do you forget the people they've killed and the hurt they've caused—"

"You don't." Caroline interrupts, "You can't. You just—you leave it in the past where it belongs. That was then and this is now." she finishes off her ice cream, licks her fingers, and smooths a hand through her hair, "I'm gonna live forever, Bonnie, and so many things are going to happen in that span of time. Good things, bad things...I can't be stuck in a rut of anger forever. And I guess that's a good thing, because forever means you have a lot of time to think about things, and I've been thinking that I'm not going to hold a grudge against the Original family for things they did when they didn't even know me."

"But my mom—"

"Was a fluke. And not really their fault. Especially not Kol's. It was Damon and Stefan's." Caroline shakes her head, putting her hands over Bonnie's, "They're not bad people, Bonnie. They just don't know any better. They were born in a time where it was okay to slaughter their neighbors for their land, born in a time where they had to hunt for their food. They're adjusting, and learning."

Bonnie looks down at their hands, "I've been blaming Kol for my mom this whole time." she tells her.

"I know," Caroline says, "he's told me all about it. He likes you. Thinks you're a breath of fresh air. He just wants a friend. I don't think he's had one before."

Bonnie snorts, "Way to make me feel guilty," she mutters.

Caroline laughs, "Sorry. Look, just—just don't blame the wrong people for your mom, 'kay? The Originals were just protecting each other and your mom got caught in the crossfire."

"A fluke." Bonnie echoes her earlier words.

"A fluke." Caroline agrees.

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Bonnie sometimes wishes she'd never been friends with Elena, wishes she was a witch. She wouldn't know a thing about the supernatural, and she could have just...lived her life. No worries. Just happiness.

Bonnie stands in front of her floor length mirror, combing her fingers through her curls. She'd thought a lot about what Caroline had said, that forever was a long time to be angry. She figured that if Kol could forgive Klaus for daggering him and stuffing him in a coffin for who knows how long, then she could forgive Kol for being the target of her and her friends' dastardly plan to murder him and his siblings (because the more she thinks about it, it's really not Kol's fault at all.) She's just a little tired, is all. Pretty much of everything.

Bonnie's phone buzzes in her pocket, and she shoots a quick 'thank you' text back to Caroline who'd just alerted her about Kol's whereabouts. She'd heard from Klaus himself that Kol hasn't harmed a single person in Mystic Falls, aside from scaring the crap out of Matt and slammed Damon's ego. (She's not too sorry about the last one.)

Bonnie figures she owes him an apology and dinner, so she grabs her purse and keys, and makes her way out the door to her car.

(But not before checking her makeup a million times and wondering if Kol will like the purple top she's wearing.)

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When Bonnie sees him, he's standing with a blonde in the middle of the Grille. She steps through the doors, and his head immediately snaps in her direction. He leaves the blonde mid-sentence and walks over to her, "Bonnie," he greets coolly, "missing me already?"

Bonnie flounders for words, opening and closing her mouth. She settles for a simple, "yes." and she thinks that might convert everything that's rattling around in her brain because he gives her a pleased smile, dimples and all.

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Kol makes a sweeping gesture towards their table, "Join me for dinner?" he asks sweetly, holding his elbow out to her. He dimples at her.

Bonnie slips her arm through his.


End file.
